Will money printing here and in europe devalue currencies and inflate assets in 2012? Ugh. Markets do seem to love to frustrate the largest number of people and wouldn't you say there's a lot of pessimism right now on the market?

SNIPWhat we've seen since about March of 2009 is intense growth in the money supply. Its worked like this:

Banks, specifically primary dealers, are told by the Fed to purchase treasuries directly at auction from the U.S. treasury. The Fed buys the treasuries from the dealers. To pay for the transaction, the Fed simply credits the reserve accounts that the banks have on file. In this way, money is quite literally created out of thin air. Loaded with new, electronically printed profits, the banks then decide what to do with the money. Of course, in an uncertain economy with undesirable lending rates, the banks realize that they can generate the best returns on a risk adjusted basis by trading in financial markets. As more dollars chase the same amount of assets, stocks, oil, food, gold, and most other assets rise in price. Since most of the money is not lent out, consumers' wallets don't feel the positive effects of the money creation. Instead, they pay more for fuel, groceries, precious metals, and other raw materials. Additionally, low interest rates force money out of savings accounts and into risky assets, particularly stocks.

This basically sums up the reason for our stock market's boom over the past couple of years. The name of the game is liquidity.

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